Stability study of thermal cycling on organic solar cells

• Published in: Journal of materials research Vol. 33; no. 13; pp. 1902 - 1908
• Main Authors: Lee, Harrison Ka Hin, Durrant, James R., Li, Zhe, Tsoi, Wing Chung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 14.07.2018; Springer International Publishing; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Biomaterials; Efficiency; Fullerenes; Glass substrates; Inorganic Chemistry; Investigations; Invited Article; Low temperature; Materials Engineering; Materials research; Materials Science; Morphology; Nanotechnology; Nitrogen; Operating temperature; Organic chemistry; Photovoltaic cells; Polymers; Solar cells; Space applications; Stability; Temperature; Temperature dependence; Thermal cycling; thermal stresses; organic; photovoltaic
• ISSN: 0884-2914; 2044-5326
• DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2018.167

We present a side-by-side comparison of the stability of three different types of benchmark solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs), subject to thermal cycling stress conditions. We study the in situ performance during 5 complete thermal cycles between −100 and 80 °C and find that all the device types investigated exhibit superior stability, albeit with a distinct temperature dependence of device efficiency. After applying a much harsher condition of 50 thermal cycles, we further affirm the robustness of the OSC against thermal cycling stress. Our results suggest that OSCs could be a promising candidate for applications with large variations and rapid change in the operating temperature such as outer space applications. Also, a substantial difference in the efficiency drops from high to low temperature for different systems is observed. It suggests that maintaining optimum performance with minimal variations with operating temperature is a key challenge to be addressed for such photovoltaic applications.